The lumiere brothers

A brief overview of the Lumiére brothers and their invention.

1. The Lumiere Brothers By Sam Kemp

2. Who are the Lumiére Brothers? The Lumiére brothers, who go by the names of Auguste and Lois Lumiére, were both technical minded people who excelled in science and photography. Auguste started manufacturing and supplying photographic equipment while Lois experimented with these pieces of equipment. Antoine, after becoming a successful businessman, was eventually invited to Edison’s Peephole Kinetoscope in Paris. He was excited with what he saw and rushed back to Lyons to present Lois with a piece of Kinetoscope film. He said to Lois -  "This is what you have to make, because Edison sells this at crazy prices and the concessionaires are trying to make films here in France to have them cheaper ". The brothers mission was to overcome the limitations of the Peephole Kinetoscope. There were the fact it was such a large camera it was limited to studio use and the fact that only one person could view it at a time.

3. What is the technology? Once the brothers had decided what needed to be changed about the Peephole Kinetoscope, they went about experimenting and developing their own advanced device. By 1895 the brothers had invented their own device which they called the Cinématographe. The devise was much smaller than Edison’s Kinetograph, weighing at around five kilograms. The device was also hand cranked. The Cinématographe used about 16 fps, meaning that it used a lot less film compared to Edison’s Kinetoscope at 48 fps. It also had less “clatter and grinding” noises which were associated with the Kinetoscope.

4. Who invented/credited the technology? The Kinetoscope was originally invented by Thomas Edison in 1888. The Cinématographe was invented and patented by the Lumiére brothers in 1892. Kinetoscope. Cinématographe.

5. The Cinématographe The Cinématographe uses flexible film cut into 35mm wide strips and also used an intermittent mechanism modelled on the sewing machine. The camera shot at 16fps which became the standard film rate for 25 years. The Cinématographe works as a printer, camera and projector all in one machine. To the right is a video of the Serpentine dancers. They were originally black and white and had to be hand coloured.

6. Bibliography http://www.earlycinema.com/pioneers/lumiere_bio.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetoscope http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinematograph http://www.clipconverter.cc / http://www.slideshare.net /